VARIETY | October 12, 2018 | Daniel Holloway
HBO has acquired “O.G.,” a feature film starring Jeffrey Wright and directed by Madeleine Sackler. Written by Stephen Belber, the film was shot in its entirety on location at Indiana’s maximum-security Pendleton Correctional Facility.
“O.G.” premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival, where Wright won the award for best actor in a U.S. narrative feature film. In it Wright plays Louis, once the head of a prominent prison gang, in the final weeks of his 24-year sentence. His impending release is upended when he takes a new arrival under his wing. Theothus Carter and William Fichtner also star.
“We are proud to bring filmmaker Madeleine Sackler’s film to HBO audiences,” said Len Amato, president, HBO Films. “Groundbreaking in being filmed at an actual prison, with many of the men incarcerated there cast in acting roles, O.G. takes an intimate and unflinching look at the journey of one man – masterfully portrayed by Jeffrey Wright – at the precipice of freedom.”
HBO has also acquired the documentary “It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It,” shot at Pendleton during production on “O.G.” Sackler co-directed the film with 13 men incarcerated at Pendleton, who study filmmaking as a vehicle to tell their own stories — several of whom are also featured as cast members in “O.G.” The documentary features animated sequences by Yoni Goodman.
“O.G.” is an HBO Films and Maven Pictures Presentation in association with Brookstreet Pictures, a Great Curve Films production of a Madeleine Sackler film. Sackler, Boyd Holbrook, Trudie Styler, Celine Rattray, Nick Gordon, Trevor Matthews, Stephen Belber, and Ged Dickersin serve as producers. Executive producers are Sharon Chang, Kareem “Biggs” Burke, Mark Steele, and Nic Marshall.
“It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It” is an HBO Documentary Films presentation of a Great Curve Films and Stacey Reiss production. It is a film by Dennis Brown, Marshaun Buggs, Al’Jonon Coleman, James Collins, Franklin Cox, Brandon Crider, Clifford Elswick, Quentis Hardiman, Joseph Henderson, Charles Lawrence, Herb Robertson, Sackler, Rushawn Tanksley, and Mark Thacker. Producers are Sackler and Stacey Reiss. Executive producers are Kareem “Biggs” Burke, Sharon Chang, Greg Gunn, Dream Hampton, Lisette Nieves, Marshall Sonenshine, and Mark Steele.